How to leave Waterloo/how to get to YYZ
4 Oct 2023
Yes, my Waterloo travel page is about how to leave Waterloo.
I thought I should have this as a top-level page instead of a blog post. Mostly, only the numbers have gotten bigger, but also I’ve added flixbus (for now). Past entries:
Here are various options for carless transportation from Waterloo in 2023.
To Pearson Airport (YYZ)
- The taxi is the fastest option. Waterloo Taxi will drive you to the airport for $110 and from the airport at $130, both including HST, but not including tip. If I’m trying to stand by for an earlier flight to Toronto (Montreal-Toronto or an Air Canada Comfort fare), then I would call them once I’ve boarded the flight to Toronto, and that’s enough lead time for them. You go to the pre-arranged taxi desk at YYZ and they summon your taxi from the pen.
- The option I take most often on weekdays is GO to either Square One (bus)
or Weston or Bramalea (train) and then MiWay or UP Express or GO 94 to
YYZ. The all-GO or GO and Bramalea Transit options are probably the cheapest possible way of
getting to/from Pearson at $13. (That is surely cheapest in an absolute sense, including wear and tear on your car.) The
Presto Card will work unless you have a GRT connection. The GO bus has started running on weekends now too.
I usually budget about 2 hours. The 25C (express to Square One) is fast if you are going when it is going. I just asked and Google Maps reported a 2h15 trip from the University of Waterloo to Pearson Terminal 1 at 10:30pm on a weekday; the fastest trip I can find is 1h41 from the Kitchener GO station to T1. - I haven’t taken Airways Transit for a while. Their prices used to be finely tuned to be competitive with other options but now they are not.
- Flixbus runs between 0 and 3 daily trips from Toronto Union Station to Pearson to Kitchener to the University, priced at $13 and going up closer in with dynamic pricing. Good if they line up with your schedule. A bit tricky if you are flying into Pearson, since flights can be delayed.
Short-turn YYZ
Twice in 2019 I happened to be flying into YYZ on day N and flying back out on day N+1 or N+2. Renting a car can be a cheaper and faster option than public transit and taxis, especially if one has the quick-rental options at YYZ. Of course one still has to drive the car. I paid $36 and $60 all-in for the rental itself in October 2019, plus gas.
September: 'back to school' and yet more trips
1 Oct 2023
I’m starting to write this with 4 days of September left. This month has also flown by. Well, I did fly to Canada, which took a bunch of days. Have been back in Wellington for a week and a bit. Also two weekend trips in September: camping on Matiu/Somes Island and a trip that was meant to be mountaineering but diverted to TaupÅ due to the weather.
August: more trips
16 Sep 2023
Lots of trips, not much work. August is OK to be a quiet month. August outdoors activities in NZ need to be winter-ish, i.e. you have to be aware of avalanches (or someone does; we went to ski resorts).
Review: Flight of the Huia by Kerry-Jayne Wilson
4 Sep 2023
A review of a 2004 book about NZ ecology, ecosystems, and species endemic to NZ.
July: some small trips
13 Aug 2023
Another usual non-teaching term month, with trips to Auckland, Turoa, and Wye Creek (Queenstown). New activity: ice climbing (to be used in the mountains). Paper submission and jury duty.
No zombies here: motions to postpone indefinitely are silver bullets
17 Jul 2023
‘Postpone indefinitely’ is, as it turns out, a euphemism for ‘kill’.
June: back to normal non-teaching term, writing paper after paper
1 Jul 2023
A quieter month all around. Short visit to Gold Coast for Australian nationals, and just working on papers.
Atene Skyline Track, June 17, 2023
28 Jun 2023
Atene Skyline day hike in Whanganui National Park. A bit faster than predicted time. Well-formed if somewhat steep track. Excellent undercast views. Also, Bushy Park near Whanganui.
Graduate Students
23 Jun 2023
I’m always looking for excellent, motivated students who are interested in program analysis.
Current Students
- Alex LeBlanc (PhD, Winter 2024 -)
- Laurian Angelescu (MASc, Fall 2019 -)
Past Students
- Vinayak Sharma (MASc, Spring 2025)
- Mohammad Mahdi Abdollahpour (MMath, Fall 2024)
- Mohammad Robati Shirzad (MASc, Spring 2023)
- Sruthi Venkatanarayanan (MMath, Fall 2022)
- Ali Iman (MASc, Spring 2021)
- Qian Liang (MASc, Spring 2021)
- Jon Eyolfson (PhD 2018)
- Stephen Li (MMath 2018)
- Jun Zhao (MASc 2018)
- Zeming Liu (MMath 2018)
- Felix Fang (MASc 2014)
- Wenzhu Man (MASc 2014)
- Gaurav Jain (MASc 2013)
- Divam Jain (co-supervised with Reid Holmes) (MMath 2013)
- Jeff Zarnett (co-supervised with Mahesh Tripunitara) (MASc 2010)
- Aakarsh Nair (MASc 2010)
- Hang Chu (MASc 2010)
May: another big month
14 Jun 2023
Much travel, especially on the West Coast of North America. Really did finish teaching.
